BANGLADESH 11TH NATIONAL PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION — 30 DECEMBER 2018

Editor: Tareq Mahmud

“Democracy is not just about casting votes. It is about ensuring that every vote is cast freely, counted fairly, and respected fully.”

— Media of Rural Generation

1. BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

The 11th National Parliamentary Election of Bangladesh was held on 30 December 2018 under the supervision of the Bangladesh Election Commission. The election was widely anticipated as a defining moment for democratic governance in the country, yet the lead-up and conduct of the election raised profound concerns among civil society organizations, independent observers, and international bodies.

Media of Rural Generation (MRG) deployed field representatives across multiple constituencies to document ground realities, gather testimony from voters and observers, and present factual findings to the public and relevant authorities.

2. KEY FINDINGS FROM THE FIELD

MRG field teams gathered substantial evidence pointing to systematic violations of democratic norms during the election period. The following findings were documented:

• Ballot stuffing was observed and reported at multiple polling centers, with credible eyewitness accounts from voters, polling agents, and independent journalists.

• Voters were prevented from entering polling booths in several constituencies, with armed individuals seen intimidating civilians near voting centers.

• Opposition polling agents were forcibly removed from several stations, denying them the right to observe the vote count.

• Unofficial results circulated in some areas before voting had officially concluded, suggesting pre-determination of outcomes in certain constituencies.

• Independent journalists and observers reported being obstructed, threatened, or detained when attempting to document voting irregularities.

• Reports of misuse of state machinery were received from at least six districts, including the deployment of law enforcement in ways that appeared to favour the incumbent party.

• Voter turnout figures released by official sources were inconsistent with field observations and independent counts conducted by MRG representatives.

3. DOCUMENTED INCIDENTS OF POLITICAL VIOLENCE

In the months preceding and following the election, MRG documented a troubling pattern of political violence directed at opposition members, civil society activists, and independent media personnel. Incidents included physical assaults, property destruction, threats, and enforced disappearances of individuals who publicly questioned election conduct.

4. ANALYSIS: STATE OF DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS

The 2018 election exposed deep structural vulnerabilities in Bangladesh’s democratic framework. MRG’s analysis, based on field data and verified reports, identifies the following systemic concerns:

a) Media Suppression

Independent media faced significant pressure during the election period. Several journalists reported self-censorship due to fear of reprisal. Media outlets critical of the government faced regulatory pressure, and field reporters were routinely obstructed from accessing polling centers.

b) Suppression of Opposition and Civil Society

Opposition political parties and civil society organizations reported a hostile environment in the pre-election period. Candidates faced arbitrary legal challenges, and activists engaged in electoral monitoring were subjected to threats and physical attacks.

c) Institutional Capture

Concerns were raised about the independence of the Bangladesh Election Commission. Its failure to adequately investigate or act on documented complaints of irregularities during the election contributed to a loss of public trust in the neutrality of the electoral process.

d) Threats Against Voters

Numerous testimonies collected by MRG revealed that voters in rural and semi-urban areas were threatened prior to election day and instructed on how to vote under the threat of violence or economic harm. This fundamentally compromised the principle of free and secret ballot.

e) Exploitation of Religion for Electoral Gain

MRG field teams documented widespread and deeply troubling use of religious sentiment as a tool of electoral mobilization. In several constituencies, particularly in rural areas, candidates and their supporters made explicit appeals from mosque pulpits and at religious gatherings, conflating support for a particular party or candidate with religious duty. Imams and local religious leaders were reportedly pressured or incentivized to endorse specific candidates during Friday sermons. Voters, especially in conservative communities, were told that voting for the opposition was equivalent to voting against Islam. Fatwas were allegedly issued in at least three districts warning community members against supporting secular or minority-aligned candidates. This deliberate weaponization of faith not only violated constitutional principles of secular governance but also created an atmosphere of religious coercion that fundamentally distorted the free will of voters.

f) Muscle Power and Armed Cadres

The organized use of muscle power was one of the most pervasive and frightening features of the 2018 election cycle. MRG observers documented the deployment of armed cadres affiliated with ruling party-backed student and youth organizations at polling stations across multiple districts. These groups physically blocked voters from entering booths, assaulted opposition agents, and in several instances fired weapons into the air to terrorize communities into submission. Local law enforcement was either absent or complicit in these actions, failing to intervene even when violence occurred in plain sight. The systematic nature of these deployments, the coordinated movement of groups across constituencies, and the apparent impunity enjoyed by perpetrators all point to organized, top-level facilitation rather than isolated acts of local violence.

g) Black Money and Vote-Buying

The flow of illicit money into the 2018 election was documented by MRG at a scale that severely compromised the integrity of the democratic process. Field reporters gathered evidence of systematic cash distribution to voters in at least eight districts in the nights preceding polling day. In some areas, payment was made per household, with recipients required to photograph their marked ballot as proof before receiving cash. Contractors, local businessmen with political affiliations, and NGO personnel were allegedly used as conduits for distributing funds on behalf of incumbent-affiliated candidates. MRG also documented the use of development project funds and government social safety net disbursements as electoral inducements. These practices disproportionately affected the poor and economically vulnerable, effectively converting their democratic rights into a commercial transaction.

h) Women’s Participation: Barriers and Violations

Despite Bangladesh’s relatively strong record on women’s political inclusion at the formal level, the 2018 election revealed stark and deeply troubling gaps between policy and ground reality. MRG field reports from rural and peri-urban constituencies documented the following:

 - Female voters in conservative communities were actively discouraged or physically prevented from going to polling stations, often under instruction from male family members or local religious figures who cited religious propriety.

 - Women who served as polling agents or election observers for opposition parties faced targeted harassment, including threats of sexual violence.

 - Several women candidates contesting from opposition-affiliated parties reported systematic obstruction, including the vandalisation of their campaign materials and the disruption of public meetings specifically because of their gender.

 - In constituencies where women’s reserved seats were contested, MRG observed that the selection process was dominated entirely by male party leadership with no meaningful consultation of women’s groups or community representatives.

 - Social media was used to spread fabricated and defamatory content targeting women candidates, with little to no accountability for those responsible.

MRG notes with concern that women’s political participation cannot be reduced to numbers alone. Structural and cultural barriers, combined with organized intimidation, significantly undermined the meaningful participation of women in the 2018 electoral process.

i) Minorities: Targeted Suppression and Displacement

Religious and ethnic minority communities in Bangladesh, including Hindus, Christians, indigenous communities of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, and other marginalized groups, faced a particularly alarming pattern of targeted exclusion and intimidation during the 2018 election.

 MRG received testimonies from Hindu-majority villages in Sylhet, Khulna, and Barisal divisions where community members reported being warned not to vote for opposition candidates under threat of property destruction and communal violence.

 Several minority community leaders reported that their names had been removed from electoral rolls without explanation, effectively disenfranchising them ahead of polling day.

 Temples and community halls in at least four districts were reportedly used as sites of intimidation, with groups of ruling party cadres gathering outside to monitor who came and went during the election period.

 Indigenous voters in the Chittagong Hill Tracts reported facing both linguistic barriers at polling stations and pressure from military and paramilitary personnel with instructions to vote for specific candidates.

 Post-election violence targeting minority communities was documented in several districts, with attacks on homes, temples, and businesses following the announcement of results, in what appeared to be retaliatory actions against communities perceived to have voted against the incumbent.

MRG condemns in the strongest possible terms any attempt to use communal fear, religious identity, or ethnic vulnerability as instruments of electoral control. The targeting of minorities represents not just a democratic failure but a fundamental violation of human dignity and constitutional rights.

5. ORGANISATIONAL RESPONSE AND ADVOCACY

In response to these findings, Media of Rural Generation (MRG) will undertake a range of public advocacy activities. A formal press conference will be organized on April 18, 2019, at the Media of Rural Generation (MRG) office in Azimpur, Dhaka, for journalists, civil society members, and organizational representatives. At this event, MRG will publicly present its field evidence and state its demands for electoral accountability.

Media of Rural Generation (MRG) submitted formal complaints and documentation to relevant domestic bodies and made its findings available to international observer groups and human rights organizations. These activities were carried out in a spirit of constructive advocacy, aimed at strengthening democratic institutions rather than undermining them.

Despite the personal risks faced by MRG personnel, the organization remained committed to its mission of transparent documentation and public accountability during this critical period in Bangladesh’s democratic history.

6. DEMANDS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on its findings, Media of Rural Generation formally demands the following from the Government of Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Election Commission, and relevant national and international authorities:

An independent, transparent, and impartial investigation into all reported instances of electoral fraud, ballot manipulation, and voter intimidation during the 2018 National Parliamentary Election.

• Full accountability for political violence committed before, during, and after the election, including the identification and prosecution of perpetrators.

• Immediate and unconditional protection for journalists, civil society activists, election observers, and ordinary citizens who have faced threats or harm for exercising democratic rights.

• Comprehensive electoral reforms to ensure the genuine independence of the Bangladesh Election Commission from political influence.

• A complete ban on the use of religion in electoral campaigning, with specific legal provisions to prosecute candidates, parties, or individuals who use religious institutions, clergy, or sentiment to coerce voters or discredit opponents.

• Urgent legislative action to criminalize the deployment of armed cadres and private muscle power during elections, with mandatory disqualification of candidates found to have benefited from such violence.

• Robust anti-corruption and campaign finance reform to end the flow of black money into elections, including mandatory public disclosure of campaign funding, independent auditing of candidate expenditure, and severe penalties for vote-buying.

• Structural measures to guarantee the genuine participation of women in all stages of the electoral process, including meaningful candidacy, unobstructed voting, and freedom from gender-based intimidation and online abuse.

• Special protective mechanisms for religious and ethnic minority voters, including independent monitoring of minority-majority constituencies, accessible grievance redressal, and prosecution of post-election communal violence.

• Introduction of robust legal and institutional mechanisms to prevent misuse of state power, law enforcement, and administrative machinery for partisan electoral purposes.

• International oversight and engagement in future electoral processes in Bangladesh to restore public confidence in the democratic system.

• A formal guarantee of press freedom and the unobstructed right of media organisations to report on electoral processes without interference or intimidation.

7. CONCLUSION

The 2018 Bangladesh National Parliamentary Election represented a moment of serious concern for democracy, press freedom, and civic rights in the country. What MRG documented was not a set of isolated incidents but a pattern of systemic subversion touching nearly every dimension of democratic participation: the exploitation of faith, the deployment of violence, the corrupting power of money, the suppression of women, and the targeted marginalization of minority communities.

Media of Rural Generation documented these realities at significant personal risk to its members and leadership, driven by a firm belief that accountability and truth are foundational to any functioning democracy.

This bulletin is a record of that commitment. MRG calls on all stakeholders, domestic and international, to take these findings seriously, to act on our demands, and to work together toward a Bangladesh where elections are free, fair, and truly representative of the will of the people, all of the people.

CASE STUDY 1

Center Based Election Observation Report

Name of the Polling Center: Ramchandrapur Government Primary School

Location: Daganbhuiyan, Feni

Date of Observation: 30 December 2018

Constituency: Feni-3, Bangladesh-267

Observations:

During observation of the polling center, several irregularities and concerns regarding the electoral environment were reported:

• Presence of ruling-party activists around the polling center

• Absence of opposition polling agents inside the center

• Fear and hesitation among some voters

• Allegations of obstruction of opposition supporters

• Questions regarding transparency of voting procedures

The overall environment was not fully competitive or politically balanced. Voter confidence appeared affected by tension and visible political influence around the center.

Assessment:

The polling atmosphere raised concerns regarding:

• Free and fair participation

• Neutrality of polling management

• Transparency of the electoral process

• Women participation

The center reflected broader allegations reported nationwide during Bangladesh’s 2018 parliamentary election, including intimidation, lack of opposition oversight, and alleged electoral manipulation.

_____________________

CASE STUDY 2

Center Based Election Observation Report

Name of the Polling Center: Mirpur Government School

Location: Dhaka, Dhaka North City Corporation

Date of Observation: 30 December 2018

Constituency: Dhaka-14, Bangladesh-187

Observations:

During observation of the polling center, several irregularities and concerns regarding the electoral environment were reported:

• Presence of ruling-party activists around the polling center

• Absence of opposition polling agents inside the center

• Fear and hesitation among some voters

• Allegations of obstruction of opposition supporters

• Questions regarding transparency of voting procedure

• Attacked in the polling both against the opponent candidates’ supporters

• Low voters’ participation

• Showing illegal arms openly

The overall environment was not fully competitive or politically balanced. Voter confidence appeared affected by tension and visible political influence around the center.

Assessment:

The overall polling environment gave rise to serious concerns regarding:

* The ability of voters to participate freely and fairly

* The neutrality and impartiality of polling administration

* The transparency and integrity of the electoral process

The situation observed at the polling center was consistent with broader allegations reported across Bangladesh during the 2018 parliamentary election, including voter intimidation, the absence of effective opposition oversight, and allegations of electoral irregularities and manipulation.

Publication: Media of Rural Generation (MRG)

Bulletin Type: Special Election Edition

Election Date: 30 December 2018

Bulletin Date: January 2019

Coverage Area: Bangladesh

Classification: For Public Record and Advocacy Use